Author: Dan Blank

Today I want to discuss how to connect with your readers, focusing not just on breadth (how many), but depth (true fans as opposed to fickle followers.) What I share here today is what I have found after working with thousands of writers for the past 20 years.

Critical here is a feeling that so many writers say they are mired with: overwhelm. It is so easy to feel overwhelmed by all the expectations, all of the channels you can be sharing in, and all of the ideas you are told you “have to do.” That you have to fit in to the expectations of others. But I want how you share what you create to feel refreshing, not overwhelming.

Writers often seek to establish themselves, grow their platforms, and find their readers in a world that is fast-paced, ever-changing, and — we don’t talk about this enough — full of fear that saying the wrong thing will undermine all of your efforts.

Today’s guide is meant to give you a path to feel fulfilled in the process of how you share your work and connect with readers. Here is what we will cover today:

• Express What You Create and Why
• Invest in Channels that Can’t Be Taken Away
• Focus on Deep Connection Not Vanity Metrics
• Don’t Go It Alone

The other day I was a guest on Joanna Penn’s podcast, with an episode titled “Human-Centered Book Marketing With Dan Blank.” After Jo stopped recording, we chatted for a bit, and she said something fascinating. She is the author of more than 30 books, a New York Times bestseller, and an award winning podcast host. We have known each other for more than a decade. Even though she is on the forefront of publishing news and book selling strategies, before we hung up she was reflecting on how — for all these years, with all of her books — she still employs the same basic strategies of how she shares and connects with readers. Primary to this is relying on her email newsletter to directly reach her readers. It’s been such a pleasure knowing her for so long, and she always seems so genuinely happy and fulfilled in her process.

The basics don’t change: effectively communicating what you write and why, and doing so in a way that creates trust with your ideal readers. Before we begin, I have one announcement:

Excited to announce my next workshop: Launch and Grow Your Email Newsletter On Substack. Join me to examine the step-by-step process to launch or grow your email newsletter. I’m adding loads of updates and new information for 2024 to this workshop. Live event: Friday May 24, 2024, at 12:30pm ET. A full recording is provided to all who register. $49.

Join me!

Okay, let’s dig into today’s topic…

Express What You Create and Why

This. is. not. easy.

So often, we hope it is a destination — where in an afternoon you come up with a concise mission statement, where you can say, “Whew! Done!” But I find that more often than not, we learn to do this slowly, one interaction at a time.

We are each growing and changing all of the time. And what we create may evolve too. I encourage you to attend to learning how to communicate what you create and why as a journey. One where you show up to a practice each week to share. To understand it better in the process. And of course, to connect with readers.

Don’t reduce your work to a quippy tagline. Make it the foundation for how you create meaningful moments with others. Start with Key Messages — a process I developed and work with writers on nearly every day. These are a series of statements that explore the themes you love writing about, and that embody why you create, not just what you create.

Invest in Channels that Can’t Be Taken Away

How we share online is often through a channel that we have very little control over. On social media, these are proprietary systems that offer amazing connections to communities. However, the doors to these people can be closed at any time. I’ve spoke with many writers who woke up on a random Tuesday to find themselves locked out of their Facebook or Instagram accounts. For some, they lost everything that they shared and all connection to their followers.

I’ve been a big advocate for Substack for this very reason. Because so much of it is based on an email list that you can back up and bring with you anywhere, it is inherently a channel that gives you the writer more control.

I’ve sent out a weekly email newsletter for 19 years. I’ve moved from channel to channel four times with my list, and if Substack went away tomorrow, my access to each and every subscriber would remain unchanged.

Can you use social media channels that you have little control over? Yes! But don’t make that the only way you stay connected with readers. Diversify across platforms, and consider if you can use a newsletter to ensure you stay connected with your core community.

Focus on Deep Connection Not Vanity Metrics

But that is not the only goal.

It is a craft to learn to share in a way that truly moves readers. Where what you share doesn’t just glean a “like” after a split second, but where someone becomes enamored with what you create and why. Where they look forward to hearing from you. Where they talk about your work and its influence in their lives.

This often happens in small moments, not big stats. I encourage you to focus on doing less, but doing those things really well.

Ignore trends and “best practices.” Honestly, the world is more interesting when you simply show up as who you are, instead of you trying to fit yourself into some viral concept that thousands of others are trying to copy.

This is one of my favorite videos ever. It talks about the importance of not fitting in:

Don’t Go It Alone

Reach out to those who inspire you and let them know that their work matters to you. Consider if there are others who create that you can regularly connect with. You do not need to “pitch” these people. Simply send a note of gratitude. Then, awhile later, do it again.

Earlier this week I was reflecting on the people in my life who I can text when I need help working through something. I think for each of them, we met online through social media. I’ve written many times before about how Jennie Nash and I have had weekly mastermind calls for years now. Or how Lori Richmond has become a collaborator and friend.

Having people in your creative life can change it in immeasurable ways. Don’t be afraid to consider how you can slowly develop colleagues around what you create.

Please let me know in the comments: what aspects of sharing have felt fulfilling to you, reducing a sense of overwhelm?

Reminder: Join me for my next workshop: Launch and Grow Your Email Newsletter On Substack on May 24th. All who register to receive the recording. Full information here.

For my paid subscribers this week I shared a 20-minute video titled, “Find the time, attention, and space to create and share.” You can view a preview here.

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

Today I want to share a post that is a little more personal than usual. But I will also try to pull some lessons from all of this to help you find more fulfillment and success in sharing your writing with readers.

So this has been a complicated week for me because of three specific moments. The theme I keep coming back to for each of them is this one word: caring. Here are the three things that happened this week:

• My mom moved into a nursing home just down the road from me. She had previously lived in another state. Without question, this moment eclipsed the others in this list by a wide margin.
• We installed central air conditioning in our 114 year old house. This sounds so ordinary, but it meant cutting holes into every room, installing tons of equipment and ducts throughout our house.
• My wife and I celebrated her birthday with a Broadway show. We make a point to go on “date night” regularly, but this was a much bigger event.

What does all of this have to do with the things I normally write about, helping you share your writing more effectively and engaging readers? I’ve always said that how a writer develops their platform and develops a meaningful connection with their readers is about communication and trust. Caring feels like an essential underlying ingredient to both of these things.

Whenever you consider a writer, musician, artist, or other creator who inspires you, caring is often at the heart of it. That they truly care to show up to create, and you show up to appreciate it.

Below are the three things I have been reflecting on this week with regards to caring and why it is so important in how we create and share. Let’s dig in…

Caring is a Feeling

As my parents aged, I found that there were often more questions than answers. More surprises and new developments that only added complexity.

But in speaking with the people who run the nursing home, I had a sense they were going to make the process less complex, while providing even more care. From what I have seen in the early days of the transition have been a masterclass in what caring looks like:

• You can feel when someone truly cares. The preparation for the move required an immediate continuation of care, where every aspect of mom’s needs can be met the moment she walked into the building. A week before she moved in, there was a moment that best embodies how caring was infused in this process. Someone from the nursing home called me, so excited. Right away she said, “I have good news!” She then explained some details about the medical side of the transition for my mom, and she ended with, “I was just so excited, I had to call you.” It’s hard to describe how good that felt.
• Trust is created through informality and empathy. Of course, in many ways, this transition is a very complex process. But the nursing home infused it with empathy, always attending to our needs. There was a point early in the process where I asked “When do I have to tell you if we want to be added to the waiting list or not for a spot for my mom?” Their reply: “Dan, your mom is already on the list. We’ve met with you, we understand the situation, and we will let you know when a spot opens up. If you later decide to go another direction, that’s fine.” That was another refreshing moment of how caring just made the process easier.
• Making someone feel welcome is about caring for them. The home made mom (and us) feel cared for immediately. They did this that through time and attention. First we sat for an hour, just talking with mom, as they got a feel for her needs in the moment. Within hours, they were telling us about subtle things about her health that no other caregiver had previously disclosed. The entire time, saying, “this won’t be a problem, we will get this handled, we already started working on it.”
• Honesty in caring is about sharing a process, not promising the moon. The nursing home will be taking care of so many of mom’s needs. What was so amazing in talking with them is how much they focused on sharing their process in way that felt reasonable. They said,”We aren’t perfect, but we will always be straight shooters and share everything.” There have been so many moments already where someone from the nursing home took the time to explain something specific to me, ensuring I really understood it. Which was so different from so many other facilities that I toured where they would promise a lot, but seemed to hide their processes.
• Caring is inherently about great communication. Every day this week I received two emails first thing in the morning. The first was personalized to exactly how my mom did the previous day and night. The second email is to all families who have someone in the home, with an update on what activities they participated in, what they ate, and any other notable events or visitors. I feel tuned into a community of caring.

Throughout this, the small moments really stick out. Around 2pm on the first day I met a staff member for a brief moment and was introduced. Four hours later I walked past them and they said, “Have a good night, Dan!” They remembered my name. It felt wonderful to leave my mom for the night, and know that this person, one member of a much larger staff, was already on a first name basis not just with my mom, but me.

Here is my mom with my brother (right) and I on the first day:

How do you know you are cared for? It isn’t found by analyzing a list of items that are checked off. It is a feeling. A feeling of being cared for. Even though this move was complex in so many ways, it is amazing to see all the people working to care for my mom and our family, as this transition happens.

When I talk with writers about what it means to show up and share what they create and why, I feel like this idea of caring is central to it. To show up because you are passionate about what you create, and know that connecting it with a reader will create a magical moment for them. You aren’t just following a template, copying a “best practice,” or using a rote process. You show up for your creative work because you care. And in sharing that, you extend that care to the moment it connects with someone who will deeply appreciate it.

Caring is Compromise

In all the HVAC forums online, people ask questions about which brand of AC unit is best. Pros and experienced people in the field all say the same thing: the brand matters dramatically less than having it installed correctly.

In the end, I went with a company who was more expensive, but who promised to work with me through tricky situations, and who I trusted. Literally, as I write this, I hear two different people sawing into walls, and yet I’m calm enough to know what they are doing, why, and feel confident that they know exactly what not to do.

Part of this process is a willingness to compromise. On their part — to explore routing some ducts in a way that I prefer, in order to give my family more living space. The other part of it is a willingness on my part to compromise based on their professional expertise.

It’s easy to try to simplify this, and say that caring is limitless and unconditional. But in many situations there is a limit to the sacrifice one can make. That is a part of care — it often has reasonable limits.

When working with writers, they dream of someone hearing about their book, and instantly being enthralled, buying it, reading it, posting a review about it, sharing it with others. An easy example of this would be an author’s desire to just buy some social media ads, and hopefully see an immediate spike in book sales. And while that can happen, it is not a reasonable expectation for someone to see an ad about a book once, and care so much about it that they immediately pull out their credit card, then spend 8 hours reading the book.

This is why I help writers consider the process of making readers aware of their work, considering if it will resonate with them, encouraging them to buy the book, read it, review it, etc. In some of my programs, I will use the concept of the marketing funnel to illustrate this, that it is a process that moves people slowly from one level of interest to the next.

Do many authors feel they are compromising by having to focus on sharing their book, on being involved in the process of making readers aware of it? Sure. But to me, that compromise is very much about caring. About showing up to care that their writing feels complete when it reaches a reader. Yes, it takes time and attention. And isn’t that wonderful? To have the opportunity to share one’s creative work and reach those who may be inspired by it. Compromise can sometimes lead to what we hope for most: that our work truly matters to someone.

Caring is a Collaboration

It was a fascinating experience. Of course, the production value was over the top. Here is the stage:

The musical has been starring Boy George for a few months, and we were lucky to see a performance with him in it. Here he is (center in the top hat) after the show ended, along with André Ward and other cast members:

My wife and I got dressed up to match the era of the show:

Seeing the musical was fascinating, because as an audience member, you feel cared for. You are welcomed into this unusual space, and every person you meet, every detail you encounter, is meant to make you feel that care. They seem to be saying, “We will take you on this magical journey, please trust us.”

What I saw was an incredible collaboration. First and foremost is that of the cast, production, and theater staff. How dozens of people come together to create this story, many of whom I will never see: the costume designer, person moving the rigging, the lighting director, voice coaches, the security staff, etc. — all were not seen, but their work was felt.

On stage, something jumped out at me: how much I could feel the performers caring. Every nuance was them showing up 100%. From pre-show to curtain calls, I could see how much they cared. And yet, they performed this same show twice the day before, and will do so six more times that week. Then the next, and the next.

When I turned to face the audience, I saw their own caring. People were just so happy to be a part of this, and to feel that they were an essential part of this moment. Each person in the audience has a complex life where they likely feel stretched too thin, and as if they are trying to do much with too few resources. But for a few hours, they forgot all of that and were fully present in this story and performance. During the silent moments of the show, it was incredible to be in a theater with more than 1,400 people in the middle of New York City and be able to hear a pin drop.

Many years ago, I heard this quote from Scott Johnson: “Caring is a powerful business advantage.” That completely resonated with how I view the idea of working: to show up to a craft, and find fulfillment in attending to that craft. That attention to detail and human connection are what drives momentum in our work.

A few weeks back, I mentioned ‘the power of full attention’ in my post about Mister Rogers:

“One of the most powerful gifts you can give someone is your attention — to truly see and hear them. This is something Fred Rogers was known for. People would say that when talking with him, you felt as though he was completely present in the conversation, as if no one else in the world existed.”

That is caring.

I have often described my process of helping writers reach their readers as ‘Human-Centered Marketing.’ This is a process that puts people at the center of what is happening, not technology, hacks, trends, hashtags, or tricks. This is a craft. To show up to care about what you create and that moment it connects with someone.

Please let me know in the comments below: How have you experienced caring in a situation you didn’t expect it and how did it make you feel?

Earlier this week I shared a video for my paid subscribers: “Why I have a typewriter collection: what vintage creative tools teach me about reaching readers.” This is a behind-the-scenes tour of my studio:

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

If you are reading this, you are likely a writer, artist, or creator. We often talk about creative work itself as a craft, and I believe that how we share is a craft, as well.

We share to complete why we create: when your intention as a writer and the experience of a reader meet, something special happens. We share because we hope that what we write may move someone, inspire them, educate them, connect them, or help them understand the world — and themselves — even better.

I’ve spent my entire life around writers, artists, and creators. I’ve heard them describe the elevated feeling they get when attending to the craft of how they create. And also, their frustration that sharing their writing and art can feel like… a mess.

Each person describes it differently, but these are some of the ways that they’ve expressed to me their challenges in sharing their work:

• It feels like an unwanted obligation.
• Sharing triggers complex feelings of fear of being seen.
• They worry it changes their identity from a true artist to a scammy marketer.
• Thinking of sharing their work makes them feel alone, as they struggle to know what to do to effectively share their work, without embarrassing themselves.
• It causes apprehension about having their life influenced by big tech companies, algorithms, and a pressure to overshare.

I’ve helped writers and creators share their work for years — it’s what I do every day. I firmly believe:

How you share what you create is a craft.

You can attend to this craft in a manner that fills you up inside, instead of depleting you. Today I want to talk about how to feel joy and fulfillment in how you share, with three components:

1. Having a clarity of focus, and approaching sharing with an intention that is authentic to who you are, not compromised by expectations of others. This should be a process that honors your boundaries.
2. Showing up to share as part of a regular routine, attending to this work not as a single spectacular moment, but as an integral part of honoring what you write and create.
3. Making small improvements over time, and feeling satisfaction in celebrating what you learn along the way. Even when you “fail” with one specific thing you try, there is a learning that is essential to improving your craft. This is also where useful discoveries happen, which can spark new ideas that feel right.

Okay, let’s dig into each of these…

Feeling Deep Clarity and Intention

It makes me think about a comment that Vanessa Lowry left on on a recent post of mine:

“Last year in my gardening, I consciously focused almost all of my energy on one flowerbed that I can see from my office window. And it was glorious. So I’ve been reminding myself that if I can do that in my creative work, that can also be the result.”

I love this ethos of focusing. My family did something similar years ago, installing a bird feeder directly outside the large double windows in our dining room. This is where we spend so much time eating, talking, and working on various craft projects. We looked at that bird feeder as one would look at a television — a constant source of conversation and drama. Something was always happening at the bird feeder, and my family was there for it.

Consider how that kind of focus allows you the most frequent possibility for joy. Where throughout the day, this narrow intention fills you up inside.

People often tell me they are overwhelmed with the expectation to share. One thing I think about with this is to actively manage how we receive and process ideas, expectations, and social pressures. Invariably, when we talk about sharing writing and art, we consider social media and being online. For many people I talk with, they feel overwhelmed by:

• All that is coming at them, even if some of these things inspire them. Following 200 people who you deeply admire can feel like a lot some days if each of them share something inspiring.
• All of the ideas they see for how one can effectively share their writing and art. It becomes a constant to-do list, and unfortunately, a constant feeling that they “aren’t doing enough.” It’s the pressure of “more, more, more,” bouncing from one idea to the next.
• All the fears they have about not knowing the tech, of doing it wrong, and of feeling inadequate or embarrassed if they share, but no one engages. It can easily bring up longstanding social anxiety that we each have.

I encourage you to actively manage what you receive and how you process what you may share. Let me explain…

I love music, and for a period of time in my life, my stereo system was my primary hobby. It truly got ridiculous. There was a point that I had multiple turntables, rare record needles from Japan, vacuum tube amplifiers, and hand crafted power cables. Before I had kids, there was a room in my apartment dedicated to listening to music. One side had my stereo:

And here is the other side of the room, a single chair for listening:

My wife had her art studio in the next room — it was an apartment filled with music and art!

The hobby around my stereo taught me to appreciate how we receive and process things. Some of it was technical: to focus on the cleanest source of music to get accurate reproduction. I’ve heard stereo systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and if you close your eyes, you would swear the musicians are literally in the room with you — you could pinpoint exactly where each person is standing.

But it also taught me that my attention and mindset enhanced my appreciation even more. The simplicity of the listening room allowed me to focus, which calmed the world around me. I would turn off the lights, turn on the music, and just… listen. Just experience the music.

This is different from how we tend to experience music — or many forms of creative work that inspires us. So often, we are multitasking with our other senses.

To feel a sense of deep intention, without feeling overwhelmed, consider:

• The inputs you allow. It is possible for you to be on a social media channel and follow only 10 people (instead of hundreds), and to ensure that each of those 10 people deeply inspires you?
• That your attention is driven by intention. One way to do this is to schedule specific times to look at email, or Substack newsletters, or a social media channel. This, as opposed to constantly pulling out one’s phone for fear of “missing out” or for a moment of emotional distraction, hundreds of times throughout the day.
• That when you share, you do less — but do it really well. This could mean focusing on one channel alone, or one type of content that you share. The important part of this is to let go of the guilt you may feel about not doing more. I can tell you from experience working with so many writers, that doing one or two things really well far outweighs the perceived benefit of “being everywhere” and trying every trend.

Want more help in finding clarity and focus? Check out my Clarity Cards process. Hundreds of people have used this process, and it’s completely free. All you need are 10 index cards (or scraps of paper) to get started.

Simply Showing Up is the Single Biggest Action You can Take to Engage Readers

Learning how to share what you create comes down to two things:

• Communication
• Trust

Things that are deeply human. Not hashtags, or viral videos, or AI-generated content, or whatever seems to be the flavor of the day. Instead, just show up frequently, communicate in a manner that connects with authenticity, and appreciate those around you.

How does one do that? This is the work I focus on each day, and talk about each week in my newsletter.

For those who do engage with you, to simply let them know that you see and appreciate them. I can’t tell you how many people I have seen online who talk about wanting engagement, and then rarely reply back to the comments they do receive. Is that their prerogative? Absolutely! But I think something powerful happens when you validate those who spend time with what you create.

This doesn’t have to be complicated. For me, each week I show up and publish a new essay. Each day I show up and engage with readers and writers on Substack, on the phone, and elsewhere. And it feels amazing — an absolute gift to have one’s day filled with writing and readers.

Be the Gateway: Celebrate Every Connection with Readers

Seven years ago I published my book with the title, Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience.

The “gateway” is a metaphor for how your writing and creative work leads people into a new way of seeing the world and themselves. But it also works in the opposite direction — you walk outside of your gateway to understand your readers and what resonates with them. It is inherently a process of feeling fulfillment in creating and sharing.

Recently Deb Lund said this of the book: “Your gateway concept is a magical portal — we can’t know where or how far the reach extends or expands. What we do makes a difference, and it may do so in infinite ways we will never know.”

When you consider sharing as being a gateway, you are focused less on “marketing a product” and “how can I get attention?” and more on the nuances of meaningful connections with readers and your work.

Please let me know in the comments: What is your biggest challenge in sharing? What has felt the most right to you?

This week for my paid subscribers, I shared a 13-minute video encouraging them to give readers multiple ways into their writing, using emotional, intellectual, and social cues. You can see a preview of that post here.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

Today is my 1-year anniversary on Substack! I want to take you behind the scenes and share the specific ways this platform has helped me reach new readers, and more deeply engage with them. Along the way I’ll do something I’ve never done before and share all the numbers that I can. That feels a little scary for me, but I want to demystify this whole process so you can glean lessons that help you reach your readers.

I’ve sent out a weekly email newsletter for 19 years and was super nervous to move to Substack. Why? I simply fear change. The results, however, have been astounding. Here are some highlights:

• In a single year, my newsletter subscribers doubled.
• I get far more engagement — meaningful interactions with readers — here on Substack than I ever did on my blog, previously in my newsletter, or on any social network. That’s after sharing tens of thousands of posts on social media.
• I’ve become a “Substack Bestseller” because more than 100 of you have chosen to sign up for my paid posts. Just a few years back, many people would have found it absurd that a writer get paid for their newsletter!

Why Substack?

I help writers develop their platforms as authors, find their ideal readers, and launch their books. This is work I have done full-time since 2010, which is why I was helping writers with Substack long before I moved my own newsletter here. That gave me a fascinating lens to experience Substack from the vantage point of multiple different writers, and see what worked best for them.

By the time I decided to move my own email list here in early 2023, I was more than convinced that Substack was a sound decision. But since I’m a nervous person, I took it slowly and really prepared. To me, these are some of the massive things that Substack offers:

1. The focus on you as the writer “owning” your connection to readers. Now this, of course, is common to any email newsletter service. But it’s worth noting in an age when so many writers are building their platforms on social networks where they can easily lose all of their connection to readers with a slight algorithm change that’s out of their control. With your email list on Substack, you can download it, back it up, and even move it elsewhere if and when you need. I encourage you to regularly back up your list — Substack makes it super easy, it’s literally the click of a single button.
2. Substack solved the discoverability problem that no other similar service even came close to. There are lots of services that can help manage email subscribers and send out newsletters. But you were nearly always on your own to find new readers. With writer after writer I have worked with, I saw that their newsletter list on Substack grew way quicker than it did before they moved over.
3. Writers are getting paid! This is a huge one. Substack has solved a problem that writers have been flummoxed by for decades. I remember going to so many conferences in the early 2000s as newspapers and magazines tried to figure out paid subscriptions, and rarely got it right. Today, individual writers are able to easily have paid subscriptions for reader support. It’s incredible.
4. Recommendations and comments are back in vogue. Substack’s recommendation feature is really effective at making it easy for one writer to help another. I’ll talk a lot more below about the amazing way that Substack has brought back thriving comments sections again in a way that I haven’t really seen since the early days of blogging.
5. Substack celebrates the written word, not short viral videos. Of course, they aren’t the first to do that, but they have been successful where others haven’t in moving the needle in terms of conversation and engagement around writing. In many other places, writers have to get good at short and vibrant videos in order to get attention. But here on Substack, it’s all about celebrating writing and reading.
6. Normalizing sharing actual stats, not the perception of success. Having been so active with email newsletters for nearly two decades, I rarely saw people share actual numbers around their subscriber count. But on Substack, that has been encouraged and normalized. I think this kind of transparency is wonderful, and something I’m trying to emulate in this post.

Okay, let’s talk about the actual benefits I’ve seen in using Substack for the past year…

Doubling My Subscribers in a Year

Here are the takeaways from all the data I’ll present below:

• It took me 13 years to go from zero to 3,500 subscribers
• It took me another 5 years to add an additional 1,000 subscribers, bringing the total to 4,500.
• It took a single year on Substack to double that to 9,326 subscribers.

I tried to get historic data from each newsletter service I used since launching my newsletter in 2005. I used four services in that time: one was a proprietary system within a company I worked for at the time, followed by Aweber, Convertkit, and then Substack. I don’t have all of the data I would like to be able to show in a simple chart, but I have enough to illustrate why Substack has been gamechanging.

For the first five years, my email newsletter existed mostly within a company I worked for. I’ve written about the harrowing story of that newsletter’s birth here, and how I thought it was going to get me fired. I sent the first issue out to 9 people, and soon after, the CEO sent out an email to the entire company (I think around 4,000 employees) encouraging them to sign up. I quickly ended up with several hundred subscribers. Over the years, that grew because we had an international parent company, with loads of other divisions that the newsletter was open to. So from 2005 to mid-2010, I went from zero to 1,068 subscribers.

The newsletter then moved outside of the company (because the company sold off its brands and folded) and I started WeGrowMedia, working directly with writers. The service I moved to was Aweber, and from 2010 to mid 2018, my newsletter list grew from 1,068 to 3,500 subscribers. While I have the numbers for these first two eras, I don’t have simple charts to illustrate the growth.

In 2018 I moved my list to Convertkit, enamored by their ability to more easily create automations and segments. From there, I have actual charts to show the growth. Here is one showing growth from mid 2018 to April 2023 — growing from around 3,500 subscribers to 4,571:

In the image above, the jumps you see are from when I would run a free workshop, do a giveaway, or have a collaboration with another writer.

Then, of course, I moved to Substack a year ago. This is what subscriber growth has looked like:

(Note: I modified the image to remove months and months of it showing zero subscribers before I moved my newsletter over.)

When looking at the two images above, one thing to keep in mind is the timeline: the first image is across five years, and the second is across a single year.

Something I want to really point out in the Substack chart is those first couple months where my list was barely growing at all. Substack is not some magic bullet that will immediately grow your reach. It took time for me to find my groove. Then I had a few lucky breaks where something was shared and went viral. Overall, you can see that the angle of the growth has generally kept increasing the more I have doubled-down on Substack.

Why talk about subscriber growth when I so frequently discuss the importance of deep engagement over numbers alone? Because growth is difficult, and it takes time. And it is one factor in how we get to create meaningful moments with readers.

Every Single Week, I Lose Subscribers Too

This is a normal part of the process! But one that I want to highlight because “growth” is really an ebb and flow. I have talked to many writers who have a huge following and get upset when they notice a few people unsubscribe. They feel like they’re failing, losing their knack, or letting people down.

So in sharing these charts with lines going upwards and to the right, I never want to gloss over that every week I lose subscribers, as well. Yet each week, for 19 years, I have showed up again and clicked “publish.”

Reader Engagement on Substack Has Been Exponential

Of course, each of these numbers represents a person who took the time to read and reply. Earlier this week I shared a 30+ minute video for my paid subscribers showing how I reply to each comment and take time to learn about my readers.

Similar things are happening in Substack Notes — their social network — as well:

Every day, I am connecting directly with readers. For those who also publish here on Substack, I can read what they are writing! This has felt so different from my experience on social media, which seems increasingly more focused on an algorithm that distract us instead of moving us closer together.

So often success on Substack is illustrated by charts like the ones above, but really, this is success: connecting with real people who resonate with what you write (these are some people who commented on my last post):

I am Reading More and Discovering More Writers!

Yet, There is So Much I am Not Doing Well

• I make very little effort to promote my paid subscription.
• I keep forgetting to move my podcast to Substack.
• I don’t really use Chat as much as I should.
• I don’t use those Substack buttons nearly as much as others.
• I have gotten very quiet on social media.

I say this to remind you that no matter how much “success” one has, it’s easy to not see it and focus only on the ideas that are not pursued, or ideas that one doesn’t feel they are doing well enough.

I want to thank the Substack team themselves who have been incredibly accessible and actively out here supporting writers: Hamish McKenzie, Farrah @Substack, Linda @ Substack, Bailey Richardson and the many other people on their team. I so appreciate all of your efforts, it has changed my life for the better.

If you want help launching or growing your own Substack, I have a series of workshops that showcase my best advice, loads of tips, and clear examples and case studies. You can see those here.

Please let me know in the comments: where are you sharing that feels great for you, and what is it you like about it? That could be Substack, but it could be somewhere else too.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

A primary question I help writers with is how to share what you create in a manner that feels meaningful and fulfilling. A process that fills you up, instead of sapping your energy. One where you connect with engaged readers, not faceless numbers of “followers.” Where the result is a life you dreamed of as a writer: creating, publishing, and knowing your work connects with readers in ways that make their lives better. You inspire them, you educate them, you help them see the world and themselves in new ways.

Not long ago, my youngest son watched every episode of the TV show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, twice. That is 1,780 episodes back-to-back. The voice of Fred Rogers, the host of the show, has been ringing in my head for awhile now. I rewatched a couple of documentaries about Fred, and have been considering his consistent focus on his mission that spanned decades.

Today I want to share lessons from his inspiration on how writers can best share their work in meaningful ways with readers. Let’s dig in…

Get Radically Clear About Your Message

When I work with a writer to help them establish their platform, engage their ideal readers, or launch their books, one of the first things we work on is what I call Key Messages: a series of statements that clearly communicate the themes you write about, and why they matter to you.

Fred hosted Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for more than three decades. The show started out simply and never really modernized. Its message was clear and consistent, focusing on foundational things in human beings that never change.

I encourage you to get radically clear about the themes you write about. This applies if you write nonfiction, memoir, fiction, poetry, etc. Having a clear mission and set of themes sets a solid basis for not only what you share, but how you engage readers consistently over time.

A decade into his program, Fred worried that he had covered all the topics he could, and put the show on pause. He soon came back and continued to produce shows for decades more. I assure you, just like Fred Rogers, you will never run out of things to say.

There are thousands of unique ways to explore the same narrow theme. And likely, your work will grow and evolve slowly, adding nuance and additional topics along the way. How you share is a craft. I encourage you to consider how you can explore the themes you write about better than anyone, in a way that is immersive to your ideal readers.

Do Less and Slow Down

One of the most shocking aspects of how Fred Rogers shared, whether it was on his show or in an interview, is the slow pace. He spoke slowly, and included a lot of silence between moments. His show was slower than most other shows, even back in the 1970s. If you watch an interview with him, it feels as though he and the interviewer are speaking at entirely different speeds. At first, I would see an interviewer try to speed Fred up. Yet invariably, Fred won out, slowing them down to his pace, and his level of thoughtfulness.

So often, we feel pressure to align to the energy level and pacing of others. I encourage you to set your own pace, and to feel good about it.

Yes, I still believe that sharing frequently matters, but not if you are rushing and overwhelmed all the time. There are so many people I really admire who I see sharing 10 or 20 times a day on Instagram, for instance. I love what they share! And that can easily make me feel, “Gee, if I want to succeed, I need to do that too.”

But then I consider the craft of what I share. The experience of how I hope to engage with readers. And I slow down. I focus on doing a few things each week, and doing them really well. I encourage you to do that too, however you define it.

Be Less Reactive to Trends

Trends can be really tempting to follow. Why? Because they offer a quicker path to social validation. I see this on TikTok and Instagram all the time, but it exists everywhere. Something feels fresh and new, and people you really admire start aligning to the trend. It can be soooooo difficult to ignore it. It can feel that you aren’t being included with the “in crowd” and that you are missing out on an opportunity to take advantage of all “the eyeballs” that this trend is garnering.

But trends can also be exhausting to keep up with, figure out, determine how to get good at them quickly, and judge when they are peaking and “over.” It also puts you in a constant mode of being reactive to things outside your control.

Instead, I encourage you to be more proactive in doing a few things really well. Those ways of sharing that matter deeply to you, and you can build on again and again.

Years ago when I first started blogging, I quickly learned that I could react to a piece of news with a blog post and get on the homepage of Techmeme, a big technology news aggregation site. It felt amazing to get that recognition. Until… I realized that it was the hollowest version of what I could share. The tricks I learned were always paper thin, and the blog posts I created had basically zero value a few days later once 1,000 other news sources covered the same topic.

So I made a massive shift to focus on writing longer form essays that only I could write. I wanted my writing to be relevant to people not only in the first 12 hours of publication, but 12 years later. Looking back on nearly two decades of writing in this manner, it feels deeply fulfilling.

Leverage the Power of Full Attention

So often, we are encouraged to focus on gaining more followers, more subscribers, and vie for more likes online from strangers. The goal is presented as numbers alone, not meaningful experiences and engagement. I have spoken to writers and artists who have tens of thousands of followers and tell me they have no idea who these people are or what engages them. They feel woefully distant from knowing what to share to engage these people.

Yet I find that when you focus on the people right in front of you, magic can happen. Having 100 followers can be incredible if you truly engage with them.

Recently, several posts I have shared on Substack have garnered way more attention than I’ve had in the past. Are the numbers fascinating to me? Of course. But that is the tiniest tip of the iceberg. What I have been spending my time doing is engaging with each person who comments, learning their names, and looking at what they share on their own Substacks. My focus is on connection. Does this take way more time? Yep! Is it also an incredible privilege and joy? YES!!!!

It is a choice to be fully present with those who appreciate what you share, and align to the themes you write about. I simply encourage you to be present in these moments.

Please let me know in the comments: of the ideas listed above, which resonates most deeply with you and why:

1. Get Radically Clear About Your Message
2. Do Less and Slow Down
3. Be Less Reactive to Trends
4. Leverage the Power of Full Attention

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan